According
to statements from the two men, aged 18 and 22, the alleged assailant was a
Palestinian male. He asked the 22-year-old about his nationality, and when he
replied that he was a citizen of Israel, the perpetrator choked the 18-year-old
and punched him in the face.

Police said that as the 18- year-old rushed
to help his friend, the Palestinian hit him.

The assault took place in
Berlin’s Friedrichshain district, which is popular among young Germans and
Israelis for its lively bar and club scene.

The Palestinian threw a beer
glass at the 18-year-old and fled the disco.

The disco’s 43-year-old
bouncer then used pepper spray against the two Israelis, who eventually fled to
their hotel and notified police. They were treated in a hospital.

The
police spokesman told the Post that the authorities were searching for the
suspect.

The number of attacks on Jews in Germany has risen dramatically
this month. In late June, according to the Die Welt newspaper, German pupils of
Lebanese, Palestinian and Iranian origin threw stones at Jewish dancers and
shouted, “Jews out!” during a street festival in Hanover.

Dr. Juliane
Wetzel, a member of a federally-funded commission devoted to researching and
combating anti-Semitism, has suggested that Israel is part of the reason for the
attacks.

“It’s been true for years that violent attacks on Jews in
Germany occur mainly when something happens in the Mideast conflict,” Wetzel
said in a statement to the DPA wire service.

Dr. Clemens Heni, a
political scientist who has written about Islamic anti-Semitism in Germany, told
the Post that “Wetzel’s comment is absurd” because she makes “Israel
quasi-responsible for agitation and attacks against Jews in
Hanover.”

Anti-Semitism experts such as the German-Jewish journalist
Henryk M. Broder have also sharply criticized Wetzel because she frequently
plays down the severity of Muslimbased anti-Semitism and has ignored Iranian
anti-Semitism while focusing on bias against German Muslims.

Your comment must be approved by a moderator before being published on JPost.com.
Disqus users can post comments automatically.

Comments must adhere to our Talkback policy. If you believe that a comment has breached the Talkback policy, please press the flag icon to bring it to the attention of our moderation team.